A Hero Rising from the Ashes - The Fortune Teller and Her Savior Part 2

Fortuna heard the telltale pop of displaced air, and the familiar warmth in her chest bloomed. She quickly closed the open tabs containing her work and stood, rushing towards the living room. Taylor always liked to come home in the living room. The fact that they never actually used that room certainly had nothing to do with it. Absolutely nothing.

"Welcome home!" Fortuna shouted. She rounded the corner, holding her arms out just so. She was rewarded a moment later as her girlfriend - her girlfriend! Uncle and Papa would have killed her for the shame! - was enveloped in her arms. Taylor grunted, her body rigid for but a moment before the tension drained from her shoulders and she slumped forward, leaning into Fortuna. Taylor's arms wrapped around her waist and her lips whispered a soft kiss against her neck, eliciting a soft murmur of nonverbal approval.

"One of these days I'll figure out how you manage to be in just the right spot without using your power," Taylor said. Her breath tickled Fortuna's skin, sending a shiver down her spine.

"How do you know if I'm using my power or not? I could be you know."

"Nah. You get this look when you let it drive you. It's like you're a million miles away yet still laser focused."

Fortuna pulled back from the embrace, not enough to leave her girlfriend's grip, but enough to meet her eyes. "I do?" she asked.

Taylor's eye's drifted out of focus, before she quietly spoke,"I mean, it's hard to tell most of the time, it took me months for me to realize it. I doubt anyone who didn't spend all their time with you would ever see the difference, but…yeah. I could've sworn I've mentioned it before."

"I don't…think so?" She said, trying to remember any previous mention of it. Ah well, it wasn't important. It wasn't like she used her ability for anything embarrassing - these days at least. The first few months, the first few times they'd…Well it was probably a good thing that Taylor hadn't been able to tell when she was using her Paths for awhile. "Anyway, how was your day?!"

Taylor let her arms drop and she walked past Fortuna, pulling off pieces of her costume as she went. Fortuna dutifully picked up the discarded items and followed along as Taylor tromped towards their bedroom. "Awful. I don't know how Legend did this for so long. I just want to punch all of these idiots. Or, you know, give them little 'gifts'. Yeah, that's what I'll do." Her laughter should have been comforting, it should have made her think that Taylor was merely joking, yet for the life of her, Fortuna honestly couldn't say if Taylor was serious or not.

Shaking the thought out of her head, she elected to just ignore it and instead carefully folded Taylor's costume, putting it away in the closet as the girl herself flopped onto their bed in just her undershirt and panties. Taylor groaned, pulling a pillow under her chin to burrow into.

"I hate this so much. Maybe if there were people I knew here it would be better, but…"

"But you barely recognize this world," Fortuna finished. She climbed onto the bed, straddling Taylor's back and starting to work at kneading the knots out of her tight muscles.

"Oh, right there, Lucky."

"What do you do to this shoulder? Honestly!"

"I Tinker."

"Yes, yes. But that can't be your answer for everything."

Now to address the real problem here. Things would change eventually, but perhaps she could hurry them along for her girlfriend?

{Path to helping Taylor meet people she would recognize/know?}

[Step 1: Ask about the first Wards team.]

"Have you met the Wards yet? I believe we have finally gotten that program started, right?"

Taylor nodded, letting out a soft grunt of approval as Fortuna ground out a particularly recalcitrant knot. "That was the one bright spot of today. Did you know that Armsmaster wasn't one of the original class? I could've sworn he was. Now I'm going to actually have to look for the guy. I don't even know how old he was. Maybe he's not Wards age? There was a Tinker kid there though, Reed. He works with distance tools. I think he actually growled when I asked to look at his gear. It was rather amusing when he realized I was a fellow Tinker though. Poor kid nearly fell over himself as he tried to recover!"

"Oh? Should I be jealous?"

Taylor chuckled. "Well Reed definitely seems to have a bit of a crush, but the guy is only 16 and I'm 27. Besides, Lucky," she rolled over, pinning Fortuna beneath her and leaning down to kiss her. After several breathless moments, where all thought melted away from her, and Fortuna could only concentrate on getting enough air to stay conscious as Taylor attacked her, Fortuna felt Taylor pull away, whispering, "I've got my best girl right here."

"Who's got the power to know just what to say now, huh?" Fortuna murmured. She let herself melt against Taylor, her arms trapped between them while her girlfriend held her tight. Taylor just smiled. Fortuna leaned up, tracing a line of soft kisses along her cheek, slowly making her way to Taylor's lips again. As Taylor responded to her questing, Fortuna let out a low moan which would likely have had her put to death back in her village.

The Path whispered in the back of her head, yet she ignored it. She hadn't needed a Path for this in a very long time.

As the orange light of the setting sun filtered through the blinds, Fortuna traced small circles on Taylor's chest. The arm trapped underneath her girlfriend's back had fallen asleep, but she wasn't about to move yet. This was far too comfortable.

"Having fun?"

"You're comfy."

Taylor snorted. "I feel like that means I need to start working out more."

"No, you're perfect. You have just the right amount of fat over your muscles. It's healthy and comfy."

Taylor used the arm holding her to pull her tighter against her and chuckled. "It's when you say things like that, that reminds me of where you grew up, Lucky."

Fortuna just shrugged as best she was able. There were parts of her heritage she didn't see any point in trying to excise from herself.

"So, hey, did I ever tell you about Mouse Protector?"

"I think so? She liked…jokes right?"

"Um, sort of. She liked to humiliate villains but keep things funny at the same time. She treated things like it was all a game, and basically everyone loved her. She wasn't officially with the Protectorate though, she was an Independent. I was surprised to see her with the Wards today. If she likes things here, I might have to ask you for some help to see if I can try to get her to stick around when she gets a bit older."

"Okay. Just let me know."

"Alright."

"Anyone else interesting?"

"Well," Taylor paused, her hand stopping its motion along Fortuna's shoulder as she sighed. "I met Miss Militia too. I didn't realize she'd always been so…I don't know, intense? The woman's a machine. It's a bit intimidating really. I'm actually a little glad that I never met her back home. If she was still this uh…let's go with 'dedicated', she might have scared me off trying to join the Wards. Chevalier seemed nice though. But I think he was a bit scared of me. He kept looking just over my shoulder with really wide eyes and absolutely refused to meet my eyes. He was muttering something about 'reaching tendrils' too, but I have no idea what that was about."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"What aren't you saying, Taylor?"

Her girlfriend fell silent. "It's just…It's nothing."

"Taylor." Fortuna sat up, turning her head and narrowing her eyes as she glared. "Tell me."

"I was - this was my last chance. I know their ages don't line up, but there was still a part of me hoping - I just thought - there was a possibility!"

"For Hero, Alexandria, Legend, and Eidolon?"

Taylor nodded, laying an arm over her eyes. "No sign at all. Absolutely nothing. And there's a lot less capes in general. I don't know what I changed. Maybe I made things better somehow. Maybe I made it worse? I don't know. I just know there aren't as many of us as there used to be and the Big 4 aren't here and they are never going to be here."

"I'm sorry, Taylor," Fortuna said. She laid a hand on her girlfriend's cheek, Taylor leaning into the touch. "I know how much you wanted to meet your idol."

"This is all so hard, Fortuna. I know I'm not doing it alone. I know that we have a goal. I know that we're doing the best we can. I know all that. But I still…It would have been nice to have just one of them here to help, you know? They were the ones we all looked up to. They were the people we all wanted to be. When I got a Tinker power…When I broke time…It just hurts that I fucked it all up somewhere and now I wiped them all out of existence. Especially Hero. I wanted to be him, and I stopped him from even existing." Taylor's voice cracked on the last word and her tears ran down her cheek, wetting Fortuna's hand.

This would not stand. She would not allow it. This was to be a happy occasion. They had gotten the governments to agree to the Protectorate, they had gotten the Wards program initiated. They had recruits. The monsters that Taylor had described had yet to make any appearances and seemed dormant. The Mother of Monsters' mate was quiescent, all but dormant.

She would not allow for Taylor to continue hurting like this.

{Path to finding Hero?}

[Step 1: Comfort Taylor.]

[Step 2: Suggest tea in the morning at Madame Joan's Emporium.]

"You're getting up early tomorrow. We're getting tea before you go into work. My treat."

"You didn't have to do this, Lucky. I was just a bit sad last night, you didn't have to spring for a pick-me-up," Taylor said. The easy grin as she sipped at her tea and the light squeeze of their clasped hands gave ample evidence that the gesture was still very much appreciated.

That Fortuna was letting her power direct her only stung a little. This wasn't really a date. It was a step to finding Taylor's Hero. Yes, that was all.

If she had to make sure to avoid meeting her girlfriend's eyes so that Taylor's apparent sixth sense of her ability didn't spoil everything then so be it.

"You looked like you needed it, so I got it for you. That is all there is to it."

"Well, thanks. I'm sure that the kids are going to appreciate the pep in my step."

"Just make sure not to finish everything before you head in." At Taylor's raised eyebrow, Fortuna smirked. "How else are you supposed to mention that your girlfriend took you out? That poor boy with his poor little crush…"

Taylor's hearty chuckle drew several eyes, though neither of them cared. "You're evil, girl!"

"No, I'm just bad." Very bad. This was not a date. This was a Step.

[Step 6: Help the man falling over after he has started to fall. Do not appear suspicious.]

Speaking of Steps…Fortuna glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw a tall, thin man with blond hair and very pale skin start to walk past their booth. As he reached them, his free hand raised and he started to cough, a great hacking cough that shook his whole body. Unfortunately for him, it also managed to set him off-balance enough that his hip hit the table and his foot got caught under the leg. His arms pinwheeled even as he gave one final cough, the tea in his hands going flying and his body tumbling forward.

Right onto Fortuna's arm as she leant forward and snatched him out of the air before he could faceplant into the hard tile.

"And that's why I call you Lady Luck," Taylor murmured.

If Taylor wanted to assume that Fortuna was running her normal background Path of 'Help Nearby People', she certainly wasn't going to disabuse her of the notion. Not right now at least. She'd tell her later, after she'd found Hero and introduced the two of them.

"Hello. Are you all right?" Fortuna helped the pale man to stand, completely ignoring his blush as she dusted off his shoulders and guided him towards the empty seat across from them.

"You don't have to do that. Thank you for catching me. That was some amazing -" He broke off to cover his mouth and hacked again for another few seconds. Once he'd recovered, he grimaced and continued, "Those were great reflexes. I should get going though. I need to get a new drink now."

Taylor shook her head and waved him off. "Sit, catch your breath, I'll grab you a replacement. What were you having?"

He frowned. "You really don't -"

"I know. I'm still going to. I'm in a good mood this morning thanks to my girlfriend and I want to spread it. Drink order?"

"Uh, peach wild berry blend."

"Be right back. Fortuna, don't scare our guest off."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Fortuna leant forward, resting her chin on her clasped hands and smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you, Sir. I'm Fortuna. That was Taylor. What's your name?"

"…Adam."

[Step 7: Converse with Adam. Be friendly.]

By the time the three of them left the tea shop, Adam was no longer wary around them, Taylor was still delightfully perky, and Fortuna was feeling sick with herself that she was using this poor man as a stepping stone towards her real objective.

He wasn't even very healthy. She didn't need to consult the Path to figure out that he has a list of conditions a mile long. The jaundiced skin, the thinning hair, the hacking coughs, the tremors…This Path wasn't something she should be walking down. It was a miracle he had lasted as long as he had and now she was using him.

Her stomach clenched and she lifted the piece of paper with his number, intending to tear it to shreds.

I just wanted to meet my idol. Instead I smothered him in the womb. What kind of person does that make me, Fortuna? I killed the Nine before they could be born…but I killed Hero too…and I don't even know what I did!

Her breath hitched and her fist closed. This wasn't about her feelings. This was about Taylor. Fortuna could cry later. She could pray to Papatūānuku for forgiveness once it was done.

And she would make it up to Adam too. Once the Path was complete and they found Hero, if the Path hadn't specifically called for healing him (or, more accurately, specifically forbidden it), then she would run another Path to do just that.

By then he would surely be good enough friends with Taylor that the Eye would accept him as a target for a Path. After all…they had a double date night scheduled.

"Fortuna, these scallops are just divine! How ever did you prepare them?" Adam's wife asked. Emily. That was her name. She was unimportant. The Path didn't care for her at all.

That probably should have been Fortuna's first clue that this was not a good idea.

"Yeah, Lucky, how did you cook these?" Taylor asked, an undercurrent in her voice that their guests surely didn't pick up.

"Oh, you know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Some seasonings. It's an old family recipe from my homeland." That wasn't even a lie. It was a family recipe. She didn't know the family nor the recipe, but the Eye did and it gave her a perfect mini-Path to recreate it.

Taylor came up behind her and laid a hand over hers, leaning in to whisper, "Fortuna, you didn't have to Path dinner. What's going on?"

She grimaced, flipping her hand to squeeze Taylor's fingers. Kissing her girlfriend's cheek, she murmured, "I just wanted to give them something nice. I don't remember the recipe on my own. I was too young when the Mother of Monsters destroyed the village." Again not a lie, but not the truth.

"I didn't ask before, how did you get the name 'Lucky', Fortuna?" Adam asked from his spot at the dining room table. His grin was wide and easy and he didn't even acknowledge the tremors in his right hand. "I'm guessing it's some sort of play on your name?"

Leaving Fortuna to finish the preparations, Taylor turned, all smiles again. "Actually, it's not. She's like my personal good luck charm. Whenever Fortuna puts her mind to something, I seem to come out on top in the end, somehow, eventually. It's crazy! So I took to calling her Lady Luck and then that just somewhere along the line became Lucky."

"That's really sweet."

Emily apparently didn't share the sentiment as Fortuna saw her rolling her eyes through the reflection on a pot on the countertop. "Oh please. Adam, they just came up with that story to make it sound nice when people ask why they have a pet name that's related to 'Fortune'. We all have cute little anecdotes. You don't have to gush over every little thing."

No wonder the Path didn't care for Emily. Fortuna didn't care for Emily either.

"Emily!"

"Next you'll be crowing about how they have matching bracelets. Oooh, how adorable. Mine has diamonds in it. Theirs barely sparkle."

"Emily! We are guests and you are being rude," Adam hissed.

"Hmm, perhaps when I'm done I'll Path to break you up and set him with a decent woman instead of a harpy as well. That along with healing him should be suitable compensation," Fortuna whispered to herself.

Taylor cleared her throat, and handed over the potatoes. "I think you'll find that my bracelets are far more expensive than yours. You see, this is Tinkertech. It's not widely available. I'd even go as far as saying it's unique."

"Oh, really?"

"Did I mention that they work for the PRT?" Adam interjected. "Taylor has actually offered to let me meet Ouroboros! Isn't that awesome, Em?"

"Ouroboros does regular meet and greets. There's nothing special about that."

Fortuna pulled the last dish out of the oven and plated it. Smiling to herself, she set the final twig, and the mini-Path expired. Good. Now she could finish with this damnable, annoying dinner. Their karaoke appointment over the weekend would be so much better since the harpy wouldn't be coming.

"Why are you being so horrible, Emily?" Adam hissed. His voice was low, but Fortuna had to hear it. The Path required her response and so whether she actually heard them or not was irrelevant. She might as well have been reading his lips for all that it mattered.

"She's worried we're looking for your inheritance. Isn't that right, Emily?" Fortuna asked, eliciting gasps from most of the table. Taylor just slapped a hand over her face with a groan. Fortuna set the dish down and served a portion to first Adam, then Taylor and finally herself. She held out a hand for Emily in invitation, but the woman just leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What am I supposed to think? You - people - met him less than a week ago, and already you're having dinner with him! At your home! It's wrong!"

Adam scowled. "Just because I'm sick doesn't mean I can't have friends, Emily. We've been over this, time and time again."

"And you do not listen to me!"

"This is not the place to argue about this!"

"Why not?! This is a den of sin anyway! It's not like it matters!"

Taylor's face locked into a mask of indifference, though Fortuna had but to glance at the hand wrapped around her fork and glimpse those white knuckles to get a taste of her feelings on Emily's outburst.

Fortuna wanted to wince, but did not let it show. This was her fault, and Taylor knew it. This was part of the Path. If there was one thing that Taylor had never abided, it was someone disparaging their relationship. Fortuna never had gotten the full story. The one time Taylor had started to say something, she had mumbled something about 'Preventing the Empire' but cut off almost immediately.

Taylor was going to be so angry at her when this was over. This was everything she wasn't supposed to do, everything she had promised not to do. And yet…and yet.

She would stay the course.

This was for Taylor. Her savior. Her love. Her rock. Taylor would never forgive herself for Hero's absence, and so Fortuna would give her this. Her love would be cross with her for…a long time. But in the end it would be worth it.

"I think it's time for you to go," Taylor stated. Her voice was soft, but the edge present could have cut steel. The sudden whirring and ticking coming from her bracelet certainly didn't help things.

A shiver ran through Fortuna that had absolutely nothing to do with the Path. Hopefully Taylor wasn't too angry with her. Her love was always so hot when she got righteous.

"Afraid of the truth girl?"

"That's enough! Emily, we're leaving, now."

"You can stay, Adam. You're our friend. You're invited. We're having a good time with you and you seemed to be having a good time as well. She is not welcome in my house. She needs to leave."

"That's discrimination," Emily stated, her waspish mouth curling into a snarl.

Fortuna stayed quiet and let Taylor handle it, just heaving a sigh and wincing along with Adam. "Actually, bitch, you're discriminating. Did you know that Ouroboros is gay? That she's seeing a woman? You know, Ouroboros? Biggest hero in either hemisphere? The woman who can go anywhere in the fucking world that she wants with the push of a button? The woman who decapitated the Gesellschaft? Maybe you know her better as the woman who took out the CUI's powerbase when they started kidnapping capes? No? That doesn't ring any bells? Funny, I swear you were just talking about her."

"You don't need to get uppity with me you little dyke. I know a gold-digger when I see one and you are -"

"Richer than you can possibly imagine, lady!" Taylor roared. Fortuna shut her eyes. Taylor being righteous may be striking, but she shouldn't have had to put the woman she loved through this. She shouldn't have had to put Adam through this. The man was nearly falling over himself as he was desperately tugging on his wife's arm trying to get her to follow him away from the table; he was just far, far too weak to accomplish much of anything except fall into a coughing fit himself.

Stupid fucking Path!

"What?!"

"I can't care how loaded your husband is! I met him at the goddamn tea shop when he almost face planted into the ground because he's sick! I can buy this whole city if I wanted, but I don't because I have better things to do and other things to spend my time on! I work for a living! Now get the hell out of my house!"

Emily tossed her head back, throwing her perfect curls over her shoulder. "We will not be coming back. Stay away from my husband."

[Step 74: Plant seed of doubt. State determination.]

"Your husband can make his own decisions perfectly well on his own," Fortuna stated, her voice barely above a whisper, yet it carried to all corners of the room. If a pin had dropped it would have sounded like a cannon.

Emily turned on her heel and marched from the room.

Adam held a hand over his heart, glancing between his wife and the two of them. "I'm sorry, she…She's really not that bad."

"She's very controlling, and she's very defensive and accusatory of us being only after your money," Fortuna said with a sigh. "All we did was invite you to dinner and set another date to hang out afterwards. I am from a foreign country, perhaps my ways are different, but her reaction was extreme, even for a bigot."

"That's…a little harsh."

"ADAM! WE ARE LEAVING!"

Taylor glanced towards the shout. "She's not entirely wrong, Adam. We haven't known you long and it's certainly not our place to talk to you about this. But maybe you should talk to your other friends about this."

"I uh, I don't really have other friends. I'm…I mean I'm always sick and…Not many people really want to hang around the terminal guy and…That's kind of why I was so happy that you two were cool with getting together a few times and -"

"ADAM, NOW!"

"I can send her away," Taylor stated. Again, Fortuna wasn't certain exactly what method Taylor was referring to with that comment. There were times that Taylor was adorable, and there were times that Taylor was utterly terrifying. Perhaps part of the problem was that Taylor never really turned off.

"No, I've been dealing with this for, well, a long time. I'll talk with her. I'm sorry again. I hope you both don't let this ruin the rest of your evening. The meal really was lovely."

"Are we still on for karaoke?" Fortuna asked.

Adam paused halfway through his turn, his head whipping back around to stare at her. "You still want to?"

"You are not your wife. Your wife is not you."

"…Can I call you?"

She nodded, a reassuring grin pasted onto her face as he walked out.

As soon as the front door closed, Taylor turned to her. "You. You are sleeping on the couch. I don't know what tonight was, but I know that you're involved. Are you going to tell me what is going on?"

Fortuna held her forearm and swallowed hard. She tested it, but the Path wouldn't allow for it. Not yet. "That's fair. I deserve that. Can you give me…a week? Maybe a few days less? I should be able to explain then."

"It better be a damn good explanation, Lucky, or I swear to god you are sleeping on the couch for a month."

Saturday came and went without a call from Adam. Sunday rolled around, still without contact.

[Step 113: Suggest a nice dinner.]

"Taylor, I was thinking, since our last dinner was spoiled, how about you and I do an evening out? It has been some time since it was just the two of us spending a nice night."

Taylor looked up from her morning tea. She stopped reaching for her visor, and nodded. "I think that's a great idea, Fortuna. Adam's apparently not going to get back to us soon anyway so we might as well take the time to get a night in for ourselves. Are you free this evening? I have to get Militia and Chev through some of their paces that shouldn't take long and I can push Reed's appointment to another day."

"There isn't anything that I can't move." Well, nothing that wasn't already moved.

"Alright then, where something nice. I'll pick you up at 5 and we'll head over to…Actually I'll keep it a surprise. Just wear something nice and fancy."

Fortuna nodded. Taylor's wide smile as she kissed her goodbye just twisted Fortuna's stomach more and more.

The Path was almost done.

She was never going to do anything like this ever again. The stress wasn't worth it.

"Why am I turning my phone off?" Fortuna asked, arching her eyebrow even as she powered the device down. The red dress had been a good choice, Taylor hadn't stopped staring at her since they had left the house. This dress had always served to accentuate her modest assets and amplify her curves.

Not that Taylor's own green dress had been in any way disappointing. If anything, Fortuna was almost more distracted than her date. Taylor was simply stunning in it. The way her hair was set off; and her eyes! It even highlighted her cheekbones and the fullness of her hips. Her hips. Ugh. She shouldn't be focusing on hip proportions or cheekbone heights. That was something her tribe had cared about, it wasn't something that the modern era gave a second thought to. Nobody cared about child-rearing hips these days.

Besides, it wasn't like they could have children the normal way, so it mattered even less than normal!

Shaking her head to clear the absurd thoughts, Fortuna refocused just in time to hear Taylor's reply. "- have a question for you and I want to make sure that we're not interrupted."

"Even by work?" Fortuna asked.

"Even by work." Taylor reached over and clasped Fortuna's hands. "Lucky, I know I was a bit of a bitch for the past few days, and I'm sorry. I was just, you know, upset. It was bad timing is all. I know you can get - let's say 'absorbed.' And I don't care. I was planning to bring this up before, but it wouldn't have been a good time after the blow-up that night. This dinner is the perfect replacement."

Fortuna's eyes widened. Oh. Oh! This was…This was what Taylor had been worked up about for the past several weeks! That was what she had been building up to and why she had been so emotional and -

Oh no. Oh, no.

"Taylor, wait."

"No, Lucky, I don't want to wait anymore. I've waited 12 years. You're not just my girlfriend and I don't want to keep introducing you to people that way. I want to introduce you to people as my -"

"Taylor, wait!"

"For fucks sake, Fortuna, I'm trying to ask you to marry me here! What is so important that it can't wait!?"

"I suggested this dinner." Fortuna grabbed for her phone, flipping it back on, urging it to power up faster. "Give me your phone."

"What?"

"I'm running a Path, Taylor, and I suggested this dinner and you said to turn our phones off when we got here, now GIVE ME YOUR PHONE!"

Taylor's eyes widened until they were as large as saucers. She scrambled at her purse, finally pulling her phone out just as Fortuna's finished booting up. Messages flashed across the screen. She lapsed into her mother tongue as she cursed. Holding it to her ear, she called up the latest.

"Hey, it's me again. Adam. Again. Emily's gone. I'm not sure if I kicked her out or if she kicked me out. I know I said this before when I left the last message, but neither you or Taylor are picking up and…I could really use a person to talk to. Nobody wants to talk to the dead guy and I'm just a dead guy walking. It's alright, I've been the walking dead for years. But it's different now. It's…I've known for a long time that Emily just wanted the money I think. I tried not to deal with it. I tried to…I tried to…Are you there? I don't want to be alone.

Alone with the…stars…"

Fortuna's gaze met Taylor's. "We need to go," they both stated.

She would never get used to the rush of displaced air that resulted from Taylor's teleport devices. It was always disorienting and it was never pleasant. At least it wasn't nausea inducing, so thank Papatūānuku for small mercies.

Taylor grabbed her arm and strode around the corner. "We're lucky I looked up his address in the database. Now, I need a straight answer, Fortuna; I'm not playing around. What did you do?"

Adam's house came into view, and she bit her lip. To hell with the Path.

"I asked to meet Hero," she whispered.

"What?"

"I asked to meet Hero," she repeated.

"Hero doesn't exist. I wiped him from existence with whatever I changed."

"There was a viable Path so…he wasn't…gone. He just hadn't been -"

"Triggered. He hadn't fucking Triggered." Taylor stopped so suddenly that her upper body swayed and she stared at Fortuna, gaping. "What did you do?"

Fortuna's eyes widened and the full implications of the past two weeks slammed home into her with Taylor's horrified statement. Hero hadn't Triggered. She hadn't been using Adam to get to Hero. She had already met Hero. He just wasn't Hero yet. She couldn't breathe. "I didn't - I thought - I was going to - Oh god!"

"Can we fix this? Is there time to -"

There was only one step left in the original Path.

[Step 82: Go inside]

"No…"

"Fortuna…"

"I didn't think, I just, I was…"

Taylor let out a long, slow breath, after several seconds, she pulled Fortuna into a brief hug. "Let's go help Adam. Then we're going to go home. And we're going to talk. Okay?" Fortuna could only nod. She let Taylor take her hand and lead her inside the home.

They only made it a few steps inside, before Taylor had stopped, her hand closing in a vice grip on Fortuna's. The tv, barely visible in the room on the right, was completely taken apart. They started forward again, heading towards banging noises in the back. Passing the kitchen, they saw the microwave and the refrigerator were similarly gutted.

Adam was sitting at a bench in the garage, a soldering iron in hand. Or at least, something that had started its life as a soldering iron. He touched the tool to the item on the table in front of him, shouting in triumph as it glowed orange and silver a moment later. Pumping both arms into the air, Adam crowed a wordless shout.

He was already looking better, his skin wasn't so pale, his hair was filled in, his nails weren't translucent, he appeared to have gained at least 20 pounds since the last time she'd seen him. Whatever the Mother of Monsters' ilk had done for him, it had likely saved his life.

Perhaps she could take comfort in that. It was a dull comfort. Pushing someone to a trigger was nothing to celebrate. It was never anything to celebrate. She very much doubted Adam would thank her when she inevitably told him. And she would tell him, there was no question about that. She would let Taylor explain about being a Tinker first. Then, after giving him time to understand, she would tell him what she had done. And she would accept whatever punishment he decided on. It was his life she had ruined after all.

"Adam?" Taylor said, kneeling down next to him.

Adam looked to her, dropping the soldering thing and triumphantly grabbing the item on the table. Holding it out to her, he laughed. "It's a disintegration gun! I built a disintegration gun! I have no idea how! But I built a disintegration gun!"

"I saw. Adam, I think you and I have some things to talk about. Tinker things."

He blinked, shook his head, and his pupils contracted. He lowered the gun, taking a shuddering breath. "Taylor?"

"Yeah."

"I…What did I do?"

"You built a disintegration gun, Adam."

"How did I do that?"

"You…Triggered. You had a really bad day, and you got powers from it. You can build things now. Really, really cool things."

He swallowed, looking down at the weapon in his hands. "Emily's gone."

"I heard. I'm sorry."

"It's a good thing. But I was alone. And I didn't want to be right that she was only here for the money. And…I can build things?"

"You can."

"How do you know?"

Taylor touched the dial on her wrist, twisting a few clicks until the right setting was called up. Pushing it back down, her uniform teleported onto her. She smiled from under her visor. "I know a bit about Tinkers, Adam. And just for the record? Ouroboros doesn't like doing meet and greets at all. So every single one of them is a gift."

Fortuna slipped out of the house as they started talking. This wasn't for her. This wasn't something she should be intruding on. She had already messed up enough.

The house was empty and quiet and foreboding as the pop of air fanned out around her. She paused just long enough to grab her old lamb toy - the only thing that she had managed to save from the village - before collapsing onto the couch and crying.

When the light streamed in through the window, waking her, Fortuna curled tighter against her lamb, trying to force the day away through sheer will alone.

Her lamb was warmer than she remembered it. And thinner. And toner. And more arm-like.

Wait.

Poking at the thing she was curled around, a murmur of annoyance sounded from behind her. Fortuna's eyes shot open. She barely had time to realize that she was in their bed, before Taylor was pulling her back and crushing Fortuna against her chest.

"I have gotten all of 3 hours of sleep. It is too damn early. Go back to bed."

"Why am I in the bed?" Fortuna gasped.

"Because I carried you up here when I got home. Go to sleep."

"But - but - I -"

"Urg," Taylor groaned. She rolled onto her back, her hair splaying out over the pillow, Fortuna was still trapped against her side by one arm. "You're not going to let me sleep. Damn. Okay, fine, we can do this now. Roll over, because I'm not moving."

Fortuna obeyed and flipped over, coming face to face with her…what was Taylor now? Her girlfriend? Her fiance? Her ex? Tears welled up in her eyes.

Taylor reached over, ran her fingers through the back of Fortuna's head and pulled her down so that she was nestled into the crook of Taylor's neck. "Shhh, it's okay, Lucky, let it out."

"How can you look at me?! I made someone Trigger! I made our friend Trigger! I didn't even know I was doing it!"

"Yeah you did, and you're going to have to live with that Fortuna, but see, here's the thing: I could've stopped you at almost any point, and I didn't. So I'm just as guilty as you. I can't be angry with you without being angry at myself."

"I'm the one with the Path and I'm -"

"And I can see when you're running one. We just went over this. I can tell. I know you well enough and I know when you're conflicted about one too. You weren't happy at all for the past few weeks. But I let it ride, because I trusted that you would talk to me if things got to be too much. So we both fucked up majorly."

Fortuna squeezed herself against Taylor, trying to meld as much of her body against the woman as she could. "I should have realized what was going on."

"Probably, but you get laser focused. When all you have is a hammer…I'm the same with my teleporters. Most of us are, Lucky."

"What I did to him…"

"Honestly, you saved his life. In more ways than one. Lucky, don't think for a second that I am remotely comfortable with intentionally Triggering anyone, but…he was dying. It was just a matter of when, and that when was pretty damn close. I was trying to get a few of my friends in the Protectorate to get something together to help, but it wasn't going to be guaranteed. We don't really have healers per se. Adam Triggering; it saved him. And Emily was just as toxic too, so better to get rid of that bitch before she poisoned him further. Hell, maybe she was actually poisoning him too…I wouldn't put it past her."

"…That's mean."

"Yeah…Still…"

"Taylor." Fortuna lifted her head and fixed her love with a glare. Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. So, in summary: what have we learned, Lucky?"

"Don't run a Path without talking to you about it, to make sure it passes a sanity and morality check."

"And?"

"And…um…don't invite mean people to dinner parties?"

Taylor snorted, ruffling Fortuna's hair. "Sure, I'll take it. So…final two things for this morning before I force you to let me sleep."

"Okay."

"First one: Why did you run that Path?"

Fortuna was silent for a long time as she tried to figure out how to phrase the response. She ultimately decided to just go with the brutally honest version. "You're always saying how you hate what you did regarding Hero in particular. You mention Legend and Eidolon and Alexandria every so often, but it's almost always Hero. You idolized him. You were killing yourself thinking that you had killed him. You built a device, it malfunctioned, you did the best you could afterwards. I wanted to help you live with yourself, even if it was a small thing."

Taylor had to wipe at her eyes as she sniffled. "Thanks, Lucky."

Fortuna couldn't quite bring herself to speak so instead she clasped Taylor's hand and let Taylor move them to lay over her heart.

"But seriously, if you pull that again, I'm going to knock you out."

"That is completely fair. What's the final item?"

"You never answered me last night," Taylor murmured.

Fortuna blinked. Then she sat up and stared. "We had a crisis! A crisis of my making, but a crisis!"

"Yeah but…"

"You never even officially asked me! You still haven't! I don't even know if you still want to!"

She was sucking in air to continue her rant when Taylor's finger was laid over her mouth. Fortuna snapped her mouth closed with a click.

"Okay, so, not fancy, like I wanted, but sort of romantic since we're in bed and all. Fortuna, will you do the honor of marrying me and being my wife?"

One moment she was sitting up, the next she was crushed against Taylor. One would be forgiven for thinking that she had used the teleporter to switch positions. "You saved me once, Taylor. I would be honored to let you save me every day for the rest of our lives."

"…That means 'yes', right?"

Fortuna burst in laughter. She got herself under control just enough to crawl up and pepper Taylor's face with light kisses. "Yes, you dork. Yes."

AN: Reed is apparently the name one of the original Wards. There's no info on his power, just that he's not around anymore, so I made him an unknown Tinker for purposes of this fic. Also, Papatūānuku is an actual earth goddess in Māori mythology. I really don't know much about her at all - that's more of my beta's side of things - so its mostly just an interesting tidbit for now.